“Rinkeni, you could be standing on the other side of the earth, and I would hear you if you needed me.”

“Do I still 'ave an eye?" I laughed. "Still there." He straightened with a sigh. "Too bad. I hear girls take a liking to a man with an eye patch." "Yes, when the eye was lost in some wildly romantic fashion like a sword fight or pistol duel. Not from smacking it on the eyepiece of a microscope. And you hardly need any more help with the ladies.”

“You were meant for me, Poppy. I can feel it in my fingertips when I touch you.”

“Thank you," he said in that deep tone that was always laced with sadness."For what?" I asked.This time he reached up and pushed a strand of hair from my face. "For seeing me. Most people I meet look right through me. But when you look at me, I feel real, I feel like flesh, bone and blood.”

“I don't know how it happened. Through the din of the crowd, I heard this tiny scream. As small and distant as it was, it was like thunder in my head.' He looked up at me. Some of the blood had drained from his face making the dark circles under his eyes more pronounced. 'I knew it was you. I don't know how or why, but I knew it was you.”

“His arms held me like a vice, and I wondered if he would crush the life from me, and it occurred to me that I didn’t care as long as I died in his arms...”

“He would be gone soon, and with all that had happened in Blackpool Cove, I could not afford to send a piece of my heart with him.”